Icelandic alphabet books: a key to the culture

Viktoriia Buzukina

Listaháskóli Íslands

Hönnunar- og arkitektúrdeild

Grafísk hönnun

Icelandic alphabet books: a key to the culture

Viktoriia Buzukina

Supervisor: Kristín Ragna Gunnarsdóttir

Vorönn 2013

Abstract

This essay is a research and analysis of first alphabet books for children under three years

old, the requirements in designing them with the main emphasis on the visual part, which is

a key to the culture and environment of a child. The study is applied on the Icelandic market.

The importance of early literacy is described, as well as mentioned when it is better to start

introducing children to the letters of the alphabet.

The Icelandic traditions are not in favor of learning letters of the alphabet before preschool,

so these are not published for children aged zero to three. The small market in Iceland also

creates some limits. The research shows that most of the first high-quality and fully illustrated

books available in Iceland are by foreign authors and illustrators.

Interviews with people in the fields of literature and education, editors at publishing houses,

Icelandic writers and illustrators as well as my close look at Icelandic alphabet books show that

the visual culture is very poor and not developed properly. The research summarizes problems

in Icelandic ABC books and suggests ways to improve the visual part of alphabet learning

materials.

Table of content

1. Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………….

2. Early literacy traditions in Iceland ………………………………………………………..

3. Alphabet books for toddlers: format, content, illustrations …………...…………….…….

4. Publishing children´s books in Iceland ……………………………………………...........

5. A close look at Icelandic alphabet books ………………………………………….........

5.1. Close look at Stafurinn minn og stafurinn þinn ...........................................................

5.2. Close look at Í Stafaleik ...............................................................................................

5.3. Close look at Stafakarlarnir ........................................................................................

5.4. Close look at Stafrófið .................................................................................................

6. Conclusion ..........................................................................................................................

6.1. Icelandic alphabet learning: summary and problems ..................................................

6.2. Making a first alphabet book as a key to the culture ...................................................

List of references ....................................................................................................................

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Introduction

One of the first books parents buy for their children in Ukraine is an alphabet book. I remember

having one big cardboard ABC when I was a child and I bought one for my son when he turned

one year old. The alphabet book is more then just learning the letters; it is a first introduction

to the culture of your country. Some professors in the field of rhetoric state that learning the

alphabet should begin early in children´s life and they should definitely be introduced to the

letters before the age of three.1

Publishing children´s book is a manufactured process. To get all the way from an author

to a child, a book goes through the agent, publisher, editor, readers, designer, marketing,

advisers, reviewers, booksellers, advertising, other media, and then through parents to the child.2

All these links are important, but the first point of the study is to focus on the work of designers

and illustrators who are responsible for the visual part of making the imagery that transmits the

meaning in a recognizable way and connects it to the environment of the child. Research will be

made to identify the most important aspects required for designing a high-quality alphabet book

as a part of a daily experience for infants and toddlers, who are not able to read the text, but are

ready to understand through images. Through this cognition they will be on the way to literacy,

because “Literacy development begins in the very early stages of childhood, even though the

activities of young children may not seem related to reading and writing.”3

The Icelandic children´s book market is made up of a big variety of literature for a wide

range of ages. The second point of this study is to research how many alphabet books exist in

Iceland and for which ages they are targeted. Are these books good enough to introduce children

to the language and do they represent the local culture? How many books are actually

“ ... home made ... ”4 but not written and illustrated by foreign authors. The ratio between

Icelandic picture books for toddlers and those that are translated would help to analyze the

situation. The research is based on interviewing people in the fields of literature and learning for

children of the preschool age, editors at publishing houses and at the government institutions,

popular writers and illustrators and, with their help, to find solutions on how to improve learning

the alphabet by making it visually more unique, entertaining and educationally useful.

1 Deanna Mascle, Learning the alphabet: why it is so important for children, Ezine articles, 2007, retrieved 3 November 2012, <http://ezinearticles.com/?Learning-The-Alphabet:-Why-It-Is-So-Important-For- Children&id=409113>.2 Peter Hunt, Criticism, theory, and children´s literature, Blackwell Publishers, Oxford, UK, 1992, p. 158.3 Debra Johnson, Addressing the Literacy Needs of Emergent and Early Readers, North Central Regional Educational Laboratory, 1999, retrieved 3 November 2012, <http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/ content/cntareas/reading/li100.htm>.4 Sigþrúður Gunnarsdóttir, interviewed by Viktoriia Buzukina, 16 November 2012.

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Early literacy traditions in Iceland

Learning the Icelandic alphabet is generally difficult. However there are few materials for

toddlers available in stores such as alphabet books or simple ABCs. Do Icelandic children

learn the alphabet? When and how? – These are the first questions to start the research. Rannveig

Auður Jóhansdóttir, the lecturer at the Research Centre for Children and Youth Development

in Iceland, that is mainly focusing on the reading and writing development from infancy to the

teenage years,5 gave an introduction to the culture of learning the alphabet in Iceland.

It is not a very strong tradition in Iceland to introduce children early to the

letters. After 4 years old they become introduced to some of the letters from

their names or names of their family. They put these letters on the wall and

play with them. This is very common, but in the preschool. Telling the story

is a very strong tradition in our country. We have storybooks for teachers,

which they read aloud and help children to select most common sounds and

letters out of them. For the toddlers there should be toys, cubes or any other

games with the alphabet … but our last 10 years of research showed that it

is very important that the language development was improved and started

earlier.6

Icelandic children start to learn the alphabet at preschool when they are ready to learn to read.

Deanna Mascle, professor in technical communication and rhetoric, writes that children should

“ ... be well on their way to alphabet mastery before preschool.”7 But there are no ABC books,

cubes, or cards in Iceland, which would be designed for children under 3 years old. Is it good to

limit toddlers from introducing them to the visual shapes of letters?

5 Rannsóknarstofa um þroska, mál og læsi: Rannveig A. Jóhansdóttir, Háskóli Íslands, retrieved 10 November 2012, <http://stofnanir.hi.is/mal-lestur/rannveig_johannsdottir>.6 Rannveig A. Jóhansdóttir, interviewed by Viktoriia Buzukina, 20 November 2012.7 Deanna Mascle, Learning the alphabet: why it is so important for children, Ezine articles, 2007, retrieved 3 November 2012, <http://ezinearticles.com/?Learning-The-Alphabet:-Why-It-Is-So-Important-For- Children&id=409113>.

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Sigþrúður Gunnarsdóttir, the editor at the Icelandic book publishing house, Forlagið, mentioned

in her interview that some years ago “ ... teachers were against that children were learning the

alphabet before entering the school to keep them all on the same level.”8 Of course it is not a

rule nowadays, but the early introduction of children to the letter-language-culture chain is not

established in Iceland, and Ragnheiður Gestsdóttir, the Icelandic writer and illustrator points to

that problem, too:

I think that because of this separation, of taking the reading out of the home

and putting into a school is probably one of the reasons why you won´t find

any books at all that teach anything about the letters until children are actually

ready to start school. So that is probably why the alphabet book kind of falls

out of the picture, because there no longer exist the home responsibility.

People were for some while afraid of teaching their children because of these

arguments, which is really bad. This is changing now, but this is probably why

we have this gap and a game of associating a letter and a picture, which is a

fun game, and it does not mean that a child would necessarily learn to read,

but he will be ready to learn to read and to associate a letter with a sound. The

playfulness of it was taken away and is made to be a really serious thing now,

like you have to learn to read.9

Both with the entertainment part of the alphabet book, unconsciously children receive basic

information about the letters, because the building blocks of language and literacy are formed

in the first three years of a child’s life. In his first year, a child’s brain doubles in size, by the age

of three, a child’s brain is twice as active as an adult’s one and a baby’s job is to learn.10 Judith

Shickedanz, a professor of education at Boston University, where she has served as coordinator

of the early childhood program,11 first “ ... described categories of early literacy behaviors …

They help us to see the meaning of these book behaviors and see the progression children make

along the path to literacy.”12 Her study also shows what young children like in books, how they

should look like, and what the content should be.

8 Sigþrúður Gunnarsdóttir, interviewed by Viktoriia Buzukina, 16 November 2012.9 Ragnheiður Gestsdóttir, interviewed by Viktoriia Buzukina, 27 November 2012.10 Early literacy, Maine State Library, retrieved 2 December 2012, <http://www.maine.gov/msl/mrls/resources/ childliteracy.htm>.11 Judy Schickedanz: about, Opening the World of learning, retrieved 2 December 2012, <http://www. pearsonlearning.com/microsites/owl/authors.cfm>.12 Early literacy, Zero to three, 27 September 2010, retrieved 6 November 2012, <www.zerotothree.org/child- development/early-language-literacy/earlyliteracy2pagehandout.pdf>.

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Alphabet books for toddlers: format, content, illustrations

As mentioned earlier, learning the Icelandic alphabet starts at the preschool age and alphabet

books exist in some variety here. However, before analyzing them I need to know about the

format, style and content of books that are focused on infants and toddlers. In her book,

Much More Than the ABC´s,13 Judith Shickedanz describes what young children at specific

ages like in books (image 1).

Image 1.

Proceeding from this information, most of the books for toddlers should be strong and durable.

The main points in designing a picture book for them would be narrowed to the choice of the

materials for printing, the size and weight of the book, the content. The classic idea of the

alphabet book is “ ... to have a letter and something that you associate, connect with in your

mind ... ”14 – says Ragnheiður Gestsdóttir, an Icelandic writer.

13 Judith A. Schickedanz, Much more than the ABCs: the early stages of reading and writing, National Assn for the Education, Washington, 1999.14 Ragnheiður Gestsdóttir, interviewed by Viktoriia Buzukina, 27 November 2012.

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Anita Silvey, the author of Children´s books and their creators,15 describes the importance of

these connections in the first alphabet books:

The very youngest child needs simple, uncluttered books. Words should

represent familiar, concrete objects, with “A” beginning apple rather than

atom. First alphabet books typically pair initial sounds with words, and these

associations should depict regular phonographs. Pages that proclaim “K is for

knife” or “G is for gnu” bewilder rather than educate. These key words should

also have unambiguous names; “B for bowwow”, in a book peopled with nouns

rather than verbs, will confuse the child who identifies the animal as a dog …

Complications in naming lead to misunderstanding.16

Designing the picture book for infants or toddlers means making simple content with familiar

objects found in everyday life. The recognition of all these objects depends on illustrations in the

book. Nowadays “ … there are enough scattered, broken up and fragmented images, when I do

books for the smallest children I want something calm, so the child could focus on one thing at

a time … ”17 – says Ragnheiður Gestsdóttir. Different styles of illustrations make each book

unique. Images get special textures when they are done with pen or ink, watercolor, gouache,

3-D cut-paper collage, pencil, pastel, digital drawing and of course in blended techniques.18

With the help of any of these tools it is important to create images, which would be connected

to the habitual environment, be recognizable and calm. I agree with everything here, except that

being calm and peaceful may lead to losing some visual focus in the pictures. To grab the child´s

attention, I find that visual contrast and colorfulness, but not the extreme one, is very important

for the first books.

Evelyn Arizpe and Morag Styles, authors of the book Children reading pictures:

interpreting visual texts,19 write what children say about picture books and the major point

from them was that “ … getting the pictures “right” was more important then getting the words

right.”20 I am focusing on toddlers who are not able to read the text, the pictures are their first

storytellers, and reading the images is not a left-to-right movement. The eyes focus either on the

largest identifiable object or on an object that has a particular interest for the viewer.21

15 Anita Silvey, Children´s books and their creators, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, New York, 1995.16 Anita Silvey, Children´s books and their creators, p. 17.17 Ragnheiður Gestsdóttir, interviewed by Viktoriia Buzukina, 27 November 2012.18 Steven Withrow & Lesley B. Withrow, Illustating children´s picture books, RotoVision, Switzerland, 2009.19 Evelyn Arizpe & Morag Styles, Children reading pictures: interpreting visual texts, RoutledgeFalmer, London, 2003.20 Evelyn Arizpe & Morag Styles, Children reading pictures: interpreting visual texts, p. 195.21 ibid., p. 192.

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This means that the smaller the child is the simpler and bigger images should be in books.

Everything new is exciting for toddlers, but I agree that the more familiar the object – the better.

In the same book, the author asked one girl about what she looked at first in the spread and she

said “the bike, because I can ride a bike.”22 Together with the familiar objects, cultural depictions

are as important as the images themselves and Ragnheiður Gestsdóttir points on it:

We have to realize that we actually need Icelandic books, not just translated

ones, because we don´t have alphabet books or even, as we are saying

“pointing” books, where would be Icelandic things … the spring for an

Icelandic child is a dandelion up against the wall, it is not the swallows

coming. In a book you need these things that are familiar. Of course we need

the exotic as well, but not for small children, they need familiar things, that

they could see themselves in the mirror of the book.23

22 Evelyn Arizpe & Morag Styles, Children reading pictures: interpreting visual texts, p. 192.23 Ragnheiður Gestsdóttir, interviewed by Viktoriia Buzukina, 27 November 2012.

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Publishing children´s books in Iceland

Translated books from zero to three are popular in Iceland. Parents buy them a lot probably

without realizing whether they are by an Icelandic or foreign author. The statistics provided by

Sigþrúður Gunnarsdóttir, an editor at Forlagið, shows that in the year 2011, two Icelandic picture

books for children under three years old and nineteen translated books for the same age were

provided on the market. In the year 2012, four Icelandic and twenty-six translated books were

published. The statistics are based on titles at the annual book catalogue, Bókatíðindi, distributed

to all houses.24 Sigþrúður explains the reason for this big gap in the Icelandic market:

It would be impossible for us to print board books for very young children only

for the Icelandic market because it is so small and it would be very expensive,

it will never pay back … There is only one Icelandic board book, which has

been on a market for around 20 years and was reprinted again and again,

it is Íslensku dýrin25 (e. Icelandic Animals). All the other books of this kind in

Iceland are published because we join a co-printing with foreign publishers,

when colored images in books are printed at one “go”, and then text in different

languages is printed over.26

The co-printing makes the production cheaper because books are published for a very big

market. But when I look at all these books, they look very similar to each other because of the

same objects, images or photos inside. I could not find any information on why the content is so

narrow and limited, but this is probably happening because designers make books fit for many

countries, creating some kind of “neutral” culture. Icelandic publishers can find solutions to print

board books for toddlers, and as Sigþrúður mentioned, there is one board book that keeps being

republished, but it is not an alphabet book, unfortunately. It is hard, of course, to compete with

bright foreign books full of novelties, sounds, textures or flips, like first books with numerals,

colors or shapes from abroad. But the Icelandic alphabet is unique and cannot be done by

foreign authors, so it initially does not have competitors. From this point I would like to start

analyzing the existing Icelandic alphabet books and examine if they fulfill the aforementioned

requirements.

24 Sigþrúður Gunnarsdóttir, electronic mail to Viktoriia Buzukina, 22 November 2012.25 Halldór Pétursson, Íslensku dýrin, Setberg, Reykjavík, 1972. 26 Sigþrúður Gunnarsdóttir, interviewed by Viktoriia Buzukina, 16 November 2012.

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A close look at Icelandic alphabet books

The Icelandic children´s book market has some difficulties with publishing a big amount of

board books for children at an affordable price. Research shows an obvious domination of

foreign children´s books over Icelandic ones and thereafter leading to the influence of foreign

culture. During the analysis of Icelandic ABC books, my main emphasis will be put on the visual

part of the book, how images work with the content and whether they represent the Icelandic

environment.

The history of traditional Icelandic alphabet books is short and all the books, which are

only a few: Gagn og gaman27 (e. Fun and Learn) and Við lesum28 (e. We are reading), have

low-quality illustrations. This is because the focus of these books is stories and rhymes, which

in those days were considered the most important elements. In 2000, Ragnheiður Gestsdóttir

published a book, Stafurinn minn og stafurinn þinn29 (e. My letter and your letter) with

full-illustrated pages and it was one of the first books that focused on making the visual part

the most dominating.

When we started to make picture books in Iceland in the late 19th century,

there were very few people who could do it, we had 2-3 people who did

illustrations and not very good ones. Icelandic tradition in illustrations is very

limited and quite poor. But even now, when the market is obviously bigger, we

still did not develop the idea that the visual is as important as the text.30

27 Helgi Elíasson & Ísak Jónsson, Gagn og gaman: lesbók fyrir byrjendur, Ríkisútgáfa námsbóka, Reykjavík, 1933.28 Björgvin Jósteinsson, Helga Magnúsdóttir & Þóra Kristinsdóttir, Við lesum: lestrarbók. A, B og C, Kennsluleiðbeiningar, Ríkisútgáfa námsbóka, Reykjavík, 1979. Við lesum: lestrarbók. A, B og C (e. We are reading: reading book A, B and C) is a series of books for learning to read. The series also includes a teacher´s book with stories. 29 Ragnheiður Gestsdóttir, Stafurinn minn og stafurinn þinn, Mál og menning, Reykjavik, 2000.30 Ragnheiður Gestsdóttir, interviewed by Viktoriia Buzukina, 27 November 2012.

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Stafurinn minn og stafurinn þinn

Ragnheiður Gestsdóttir, the author and illustrator of the book tries to prove the importance of

illustrations and introduces parents to the simplicity of the content by having less text and simple

objects, one per page, as Judith Shickedanz mentions. Inside are short and simple sentences that

help to memorize the letter and connect it to the object (images 3, 4). The book was in some

kind of sense innovative for Iceland, but it follows the Icelandic tradition, that “ ... children learn

their first letters through their names.”31 Here on each page we can see different Icelandic names

connected to letters and objects. But the cover of the book (image 2) does not show that it is an

ABC book when you first see it, only the title tells us about it.

Image 2. Image 3. Image 4.

Some of illustrations have inconsistencies, for example on the page with the letter O for Ormur

(e. Worm), where the worm looks more like a rope (image 5). But if this “rope” had

eyes, for instance, it would change the whole perception, as it is shown in another book,

Við lesum: lestrarbók A32 (e. We are reading: Reading book A) (image 6).

31 Rannveig A. Jóhansdóttir, interviewed by Viktoriia Buzukina, 20 November 2012.32 Björgvin Jósteinsson, Helga Magnúsdóttir & Þóra Kristinsdóttir, Við lesum: lestrarbók A, Námsgagnastofnun, Reykjavík, 1991.

Image 5. Image 6.

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Visual misunderstandings are one of the most common problems in the children´s first picture

books. “One preschooler, upset because she had read an alphabet book incorrectly, sadly pointed

out this problem: “I said ʻR for ropeʼ, but the book meant ʻS for snakeʼ!”33

Referring to Sylvía Guðmundsdóttir, the editor at Námsgagnastofnun, the Icelandic

National Centre for Educational Materials (later NCEM), the font used in the books for the

smallest children should be non-serif. It should be as much as possible approximate to the letters

we write, “A serif font is too busy and the spacing between letters becomes not clear.”34 Sylvía

gives an example about the most suitable typography that they, at NCEM, chose for the latest

reading book Lestrarlandið35 (e. The Land of Reading). Here, on the image 7, is a non-serif font

from the Lestrarlandið, Unit Bold Alternate.36 The main characters, which editors of the book

point on, are a and g (image 8), because in a serif font these letters are shown not in the way we

usually write them. And this way we can see in a book Stafurinn minn og stafurinn þinn (image

9), where a serif font, Century Old Style Regular,37 is used (image 10).

33 Anita Silvey, Children´s books and their creators, p. 17. 34 Sylvía Guðmundsdóttir, interviewed by Viktoriia Buzukina, 21 November 2012.35 Arnheiður Borg, Sigrún Löve, Linda D. Ólafsdóttir, Ragnheiður Gestsdóttir, Steinunn Torfadóttir & Sylvía Guðmundsdóttir, Lestrarlandið: lestrábók fyrir byrjendur, Námsgagnastofnun, Kópavogur, 2011.36 Unite bold alternate, My fonts, retrieved 11 December 2012, <http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/fontfont/unit/bold- alternate/>.37 Century old style, My fonts, retrieved 11 December 2012, <http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/adobe/century-old- style/century-old-style/glyphs.html>.

Image 7.

Image 8. Image 9. Image 10.

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The author of the book mentions that she would now choose another typeface, but would

still stick to some classic serif font, because for the smallest children “it is better to start with

something classic.”38 I think that the typeface choice in first books can be either serif or non-serif

and they should visually match with the style of illustrations first of all, to make their unification

aesthetically beautiful and not confusing. The typeface should be of clear shapes with no features

or extra decorations.

Í stafaleik

The book Stafurinn minn og stafurinn þinn, is the only alphabet book in Iceland that can be

targeted for children under 3 years old, in my opinion, but it has never been republished for some

unknown reason. Rannveig Auður Jóhannsdóttir, the lecturer at the Research Centre for Children

and Youth Development in Iceland mentioned a book Í stafaleik39 (e. In a letter game) as an

example of another alphabet book that could be a part of the toddlers´experience because it is

very entertaining. This book is rich in content. The cut and paste style of illustrations introduces

children to different textures and objects. Every time the next letter is a collage out of new

elements: pencils, buttons, papers, or fabric (images 11, 12). Together with this collage there

is shown an image of a child, who imitates the shape of the letter with his posture. “Toddlers

should start to learn the alphabet through the game ... ”40 – says Rannveig, and that is why this

book could be a part of your entertainment with your child at home.

Image 11. Image 12.

38 Ragnheiður Gestsdóttir, interviewed by Viktoriia Buzukina, 27 November 2012.39 Bryndís Gunnarsdóttir & Þóra Kristinsdóttir, Í stafaleik, Námsgagnastofnun, Reykjavik, 1991.40 Rannveig A. Jóhansdóttir, interviewed by Viktoriia Buzukina, 20 November 2012.

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The book has short enough sentences to receive a “first ABC” status. But I would not agree with

Rannveig or with the editors at Námsgagnastofnun on this status, I would say that this book

is for older children, who are ready to read and have a wider vocabulary. The only one part I

found interesting for toddlers is a double cover page with hidden images (images 13, 14), but the

deeper I went into the book, the more I was disappointed. Some letters do not correspond to the

objects that are complicated here in so many cases. I am surprised how this book was published.

While Sylvía Guðmundsdóttir, the editor at Námsgagnastofnun, was leading me through the

book, I asked her to open this flip page on the letter Ð, one of the Icelandic letters, which never

begins a word. She did it for me and said: “Dúkka! … Oh, this is something not correct … why

Ð is for Dúkka? ... (pause) no, it is correct, the author means here Brúða.”41 Dúkka and Brúða

both mean Doll in English, but Brúða is a more fancy doll, and the word was used in the older

days. When I asked people what they imagine when I say Brúða, most of the replies were that it

is a doll made of ceramic, that would only stand on a shelf and not be played with. Similar visual

misunderstandings are met with other words, I asked people to find the letter-object connections

and the result is shown in the table below.

Image 13. Image 14.

41 Sylvía Guðmundsdóttir, interviewed by Viktoriia Buzukina, 21 November 2012.

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The table of a Letter-object connections in the book Í Stafaleik.This table shows: objects, with which people identified images – a letter – original objects, meant by authors.

Front cover Back cover

Ávextir – Á – Ávextir Kaka – A – Afmæliskaka(the confusion here was because of the candle,which turns Kaka (e. Cake) into a Birthday cake.Blaðra – B – BlaðraTré – É – Tré (Tré (e. Tree) would be a better word for the letter T, not É).Dúfa – D – DúfaDúkka – Ð – Brúða(the image shows a simple regular doll to play with (Dúkka), but not a fancy ceramic doll (Brúða)).Epli – E – EpliMús – M – MúsHanski – H – HanskiFiðrildi – F – FiðrildiÍs – Í – Ís Skór – I – Inniskór(Skór (e. Shoes) and inniskór (e. Inside shoes). The shoes illustrated here are not clear enough to be identified as inside shoes).Lás – L – LásBolti / Hringur – J –– Jójó(The drawing of the Yoyo is poor. The string, which is a key identifier in this toy is hardly visible).Kanna – K – Kanna G – nothing(That is strange not to have an object associated with the letter).

Horn – H – HornPoki – P – PokiSól – S – SólÖrn – N – Örn(In this case it would be better to have an object beginning with a letter N).Fiskur – Ý – Ýsa(Using the name of species rather then the word Fish is confusing).Blóm – R – Rós(here is another example of using the name of the flower instead of the actual word Flower. The Rose is a good word, but it couldbe more clear visually by having more thorns, for example).Ugla – U – UglaOstur – O – OsturVasaljós – V – VasaljósTruður – T – TruðurÖxi – X – Öxi(the letter X never begins the word in the Icelandic language, so here it is acceptable).Úr – Ú – ÚrKassi / Kubbur – Y – Yddari(Yddari (e. Pencil sharpener), was one of the most confusing because the image looks like a box. You can see the same image inside, but this is an alphabet on the cover and it would be better to start the book in a more clear way).Fugl – Æ – Æður(one more example of using the name of the bird instead of the actual word Bird. Some interviewed could not even remember the name of it).Þyrla – Þ – Þyrla Teikning / ? – Ó – Óli Prik(Óli Prik is a character that children draw in a kindergarden while singing the song about him).

Image 15. An overlap image of the front cover.

Image 16. An overlap image of the back cover.

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The book is obviously full of misunderstanding even in the opening pages, but it might have

been done for a reason, to use it with much more older children. In the content of alphabet

books “ … key words should … have unambiguous names; “B for bowwow” … will confuse

the child who identifies the animal as a dog … ”42 This kind of confusions are met here: Óli Prik

as a character, complicated names of fishes, birds and flowers are used instead of the original

simple and known meanings. The book was published in 1991 and has a visual reflection of these

years both in illustrations and in the content that is why it will never be republished again. It

was a bright and extreme edition, which tried to do many things at a time, but it is not for a new

generation of children.

Besides some of the inconsistencies in content and illustrations in these two books the

Icelandic environment is reflected both in objects and illustrations. But I would say that only

Stafurinn minn og stafurinn þinn would be the Icelandic alphabet book for toddlers, but not

Í Stafaleik. The peculiar thing I got from the interviews with people, both cited here and

anonymously, nobody mentioned the book Stafurinn minn og stafurinn þinn as an alphabet

book for children under three years old and many of these people did not even know about its

existence. Moreover, the people interviewed found it hard to identify the books, which would be

targeted toddlers aged zero – three years old. Eventually I did not receive any clear answers, only

guesses. Some of the responses were that it is Í Stafaleik, others – Stafakarlarnir,43 only few were

honest – there are none.

Stafakarlarnir

The abovementioned books are available only at the libraries now, but the most popular alphabet

book that is for sale, is Stafakarlarnir (e. Alphabet guys) by Bergljót Arnalds, which has been

republished six times. It is big and in a hardcover, has an interesting idea where the letters are

figures. The author says that the book is for “ ... two – eight years old. This depends if children

are learning the alphabet, practicing reading or gaining more words into their vocabulary.”44

I disagree with her. The book is complicated for a two or three year old child, it is for older

children, who are familiar with the letters and ready to start learning to read. Illustrations are

all over the place, there is no calm in them, which is very important for young children, as

mentioned by all those professionals interviewed. “In this book toddlers will not be able to

connect the letters of the alphabet with the objects they know, which is the idea of a traditional

alphabet book.”45

42 Anita Silvey, Children´s books and their creators, p. 17.43 Bergljót Arnalds, Stafakarlarnir, JPV útgáfa, Reykjavík, 2012.44 Bergljót Arnalds, electronic mail to Viktoriia Buzukina, 18 December 2012.45 Ragnheiður Gestsdóttir, interviewed by Viktoriia Buzukina, 27 November 2012.

17

Stafakarlarnir is an example of an alphabet book with typically modern, extremely computerized

and very superficial illustrations, which here, unfortunately, seem to be done without putting

much effort into them. The idea for the visual part was probably to make the book look modern,

but the illustrator here, as for me, doesn´t have much experience in digital drawings or did not

put much effort into his work. “Digital artists using scanned and/or digitally created objects

and patterns have a distinct advantage over traditional artists … the range of creative options is,

arguably, much wider.”46 But at Stafakarlarnir, the less interesting option was chosen. Primitive

effects and simple gradients are used here. Colors in the book are initially bright, but because

of the simple gradient the background looks pale, making the whole image fade away. Objects

themselves are flat and have a simple shiny effect that make them less attractive (image 17), to

compare, for example, with another book by the same author, Gralli Gormur og stafaseiðurinn

mikli47 (e. Gralli Gormur and the alphabet sorcery) (image 18). Here more complicated effects

are used and illustrations become more interesting.

Image 17.

Image 18.

46 Steven Withrow & Lesley B. Withrow, Illustating children´s picture books, p. 134.47 Bergljót Arnalds, Gralli Gormur og stafaseiðurinn mikli, Útgefandi vigaro, Reykjavík, 2004.

18

The color palette, for my opinion, is not chosen properly in Stafakarlarnir. Illustrations could

be more pastel and calm, or more deep and “juicy” because of the chosen colors. Both directions

could work and here are examples. The pastel digital illustrations from the foreign alphabet book

ABC´s48 (images 19 – 21), have no gradient effects, the images are simple and calm. The lighter

colors here are not a result of reducing the transparency, they are are full and beautiful pastel

colors here. Another example of bright computer illustrations, which have gradient effects that

is not fading into white like in Stafakarlarnir, but from a darker brown into a lighter brown, for

example. This makes illustrations more deep and juicy, but at the same time calm and warm.

These are digital illustrations from an application Wee A B See49 (image 22), the new type of

learning media, which I will touch on next.

Image 19.

Image 20.

Image 21.

Image 22.

48 ABCs, Amazon, retrieved 9 November, 2012, <http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1934429074>.49 Wee A B See, I heart this app, 2012, retrieved 6 November 2012, <http://iheartthisapp.com/apps/wee-a-b-see/>.

19

Stafrófið

Nowadays, apart from traditional books, new technologies provide us digital learning materials.

One of the world´s most popular mobile platforms, Android,50 which is now popular in Iceland

allows users to install and play different applications (hereon referred to as simply “apps”).51

In 2012, Soffia Gíslasdóttir, released a new Android app, Stafrófið52 (e. The Alphabet) into the

market, which is also available in an English version (images 23, 24).

Image 23. Image 24.

This is definitely a breakthrough in the materials available for learning the Icelandic

alphabet and is probably very popular among parents and children who are using Android tablets.

This app is similar to Stafakarlarnir, where letters are figures, and has the same problems with

illustrations and colors.

50 Discover Android, Android, retrieved 11 December 2012, <http://www.android.com/about/>.51 Marziah Karch, Apps, About.com, retrieved 11 December 2012, <http://google.about.com/od/a/g/apps_def.htm>.52 Soffía Gísladóttir, Stafrófið, Google play, 07 January 2012, retrieved 11 December 2012, <https://play.google.com/ store/apps/details?id=com.soffia.stafrofid&hl=en>.

20

Here are shown two kinds of letters – the regular non-serif font and illustrated cartoony letters-

characters that do not look like letters at all, but visually are more interesting than the objects

supported (images 25 – 28). This should be the other way around. The letters have a gradient

effect, their eyes are shining, they are more alive and fun compared to the illustrations that

should be connected to them. These kind of letters, I think, are not suitable for children under

three years old as an introduction to the alphabet. They are not clear and visually are confusing.

If we compare this application to other apps on the market available also for Icelandic children

we will see a huge difference in illustrations, typography, ideas and technical part. With an

app, children can not only see the letter and a supporting image, but can practice themselves

in listening and spelling, writing the letter with a finger on a screen, play games with different

stages and make learning fast and fun. Children nowadays starting from the age of two or three

years have their own touch screen tablets where they have their personal interactive world

with fun and educational apps with animation, cartoons and games, with an option of choosing

sounds, music, male or female voice. Here, on images 29 – 34 are shown examples of alphabet

apps that have attractive digital illustrations and interesting content to follow.

Image 25. Image 26. Image 27. Image 28.

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Image 29.Interactive Alphabet.

Best Ipad Kids App Of The Year 2010 at iLounge.53

Image 32.ABC 123 Fun.

In this app children can practice writing the letter with a finger on a screen.

Image 34.Live Alphabet

An interesting app with animation, where an airplane flies (image 30), and you can change a girl´s

skirt with one touch (image 31).

Image 31.ABC 123 Fun.

Image 33.

Image 30.Interactive Alphabet.

53 Piikea St. LLC, Interactive Alphabet ABCs, iTunes Apple, 13 December 2012, retrieved 27 December 2012, <https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/interactive-alphabet-abcs/id383967580?mt=8>.

22

Icelandic alphabet learning: summary and problems

The Icelandic children´s book market has a big variety of foreign books from zero to three

translated into Icelandic and this is not bad. The more materials our children have – the better.

But this picture would not be so sad if there were some Icelandic book options for infants and

toddlers, which would represent their familiar environment and introduce them to their culture

through the letters with the help of visual connections. From all the alphabet books I have seen

both in libraries and stores, I can say that there are no visually interesting and properly designed

ABCs for Icelandic children at all.

Referring to the interview with Ragnheiður Gestsdóttir, over centuries Icelanders formed

a powerful oral tradition, and it is so strong that it becomes hard to realize that the visual part

is as important as the text. And this kind of habit, I think, leaves an imprint on the production

of picture books in Iceland. All the old alphabet books here have low-quality illustrations,

but reflect the culture and environment of the country. The new books like Stafakarlarnir,

Gralli Gormur og stafaseiðurinn mikli, Stafirnir: lærum stafróf saman54 (e. Letters: learning

alphabet together) and Stafróf dýrana55 (e. Animal´s alphabet), which were published after the

millennium, try to bring illustrations on a modern level, but the content is lacking a definitive

Icelandic feel. The newer the book is, the more complicated the content is, with A standing for

Api (e. Monkey), and G for Gorilla (e. Gorilla) at the same book, and having F for Fíll

(e. Elephant) everywhere. Toddlers under three years old can not identify them with real objects

because they are not familiar with them in an everyday experience. And at this point I can say

that Iceland needs books, which would “ ... positively reflect children´s identity, home language,

and culture.”56

Iceland is a developed and unique country and I am sure that there are ways to improve the

alphabet learning here so that a classic alphabet book could be made. The latest researches show

that the reading skills of children in Iceland is low.57 It might be reasonable to start introducing

children to the letters earlier in a fun way to improve their literacy skills for the future and

enlarge their interest to letters and words not only in oral interpretation, but also visually.

54 Hrafnhildur Sigurðardóttir, Stafirnir: Lærum stafrófið saman, JPV útgáfa, Reykjavík, 2007.55 Halldór Á. Elvarsson, Stafróf Dýrana, Mál og menning/Forlagið, Reykjavík, 2008.56 Debra Johnson, Critical Issue: Addressing the Literacy Needs of Emergent and Early Readers, North Central Regional Educational Laboratory, 1999, retrieved 3 November 2012, <http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/ content/cntareas/reading/li100.htm>.57 Lesskilningur drengja slæmur, RÚV, 29 September 2011, retrieved 22 December, <http://www.ruv.is/frett/ lesskilningur-drengja-slaemur>.

23

As it was mentioned, one of the biggest problems is to print the book, but at the same time there

is a board book in Iceland, which keeps being republished. So the question is not “how to print?”

It is more “what to print?”

In the process of making a new Icelandic alphabet book for toddlers, the main attention

should be given to illustrations. I agree with Ragnheiður Gestsdóttir, that the visual part is the

most important and it should be more developed in Iceland, because “ ... children interacting

with their first texts depend on illustrations to create meaning.”58

Making a first alphabet book as a key to the culture

The alphabet book stands out of the competition with all the first books because it is something

different and unique. New alphabet books in Iceland try to compete with foreign ones and they

will hardly win. Authors and illustrators should think about making the book naturally Icelandic

and rethink the content to make it a classic edition that would be republished for new generations

over and over again. At the moment alphabet learning in Iceland with the help of visual tools is

at an early stage of development, especially for children under three years old. There were many

attempts to bring it on the proper level, but something was always inhibiting it: wrong typeface

choice or illustration style, unfamiliar or old-fashioned objects that make the book “stuck” in the

years when it was published. All these seem to be one big experiment and nothing works well for

now in my opinion.

When the focus is to make the book as a key of the Icelandic culture, it would be interesting

to have some kind of “Icelandic feel” and to get this feeling Ragnheiður Gestsdóttir advises to go

a little bit light in colors, into transparent green and blue, but not dramatic ones, very light and

frosty a little.59 I would add to this contrasting images, black outlines or small dark details. I think

Iceland is a land full of contrasts and the illustrations could reflect this. To make an alphabet

natively Icelandic, the most valuable here is the choice of objects, which would represent the

culture and the environment of the child, so it is not convenient to have A for Api and F for Fíll,

but Appelsín (e. Orange), Afi (e. Grandfather), Amma (e. Grandmother) for A and Fjall

(e. Mountain), Fáni (e. Flag), Flugvél (e. Airplane) or Fljúga (e. Fly), for F, for example.

Books and apps with foreign culture are the first teachers for infants and toddlers in Iceland,

which is not acceptable, in my opinion. As a foreigner living in Iceland and as a mother I would

like to have more Icelandic materials for my son who is 20 months old. There is nothing native

here for toddlers, who start building their knowledge based on the materials they see in books,

apps or a television. Parents always try to find the most interesting, beautiful and interactive

58 Anita Silvey, Children´s books and their creators, p. 17.59 Ragnheiður Gestsdóttir, interviewed by Viktoriia Buzukina, 27 November 2012.

24

resources for their children to learn and play, but they find them abroad. I am sure that the

Icelandic parents would preferably buy a native alphabet book for their children or download an

alphabet app if they had a choice. Toddlers need high-quality materials with visual connections

to their environment. These connections are the keys to literacy and cultural development, which

a native alphabet book can give.

25

Arizpe, Evelyn & Styles, Morag, Children reading pictures: interpreting visual texts,

RoutledgeFalmer, London, 2003

Arnheiður Borg, Sigrún Löve, Linda D. Ólafsdóttir, Ragnheiður Gestsdóttir, Steinunn Torfadóttir

& Sylvía Guðmundsdóttir, Lestrarlandið: lestrábók fyrir byrjendur, Námsgagnastofnun,

Kópavogur, 2011

Árni Böðvarsson & Vilhjálmur Vilhjálmsson, Orðaskyggnir: Íslensk orðabók handa börnum,

5. Edition, Mál og menning, Reykjavik, 1997

Bergljót Arnalds, Gralli Gormur og stafaseiðurinn mikli, Útgefandi vigaro, Reykjavík, 2004

Bergljót Arnalds, Íslensku húsdýrin og Trölli, JPV útgafa, Reykjavik, 2011

Bergljót Arnalds, Stafakarlarnir, JPV útgáfa, Reykjavík, 2012

Björgvin Jósteinsson, Helga Magnúsdóttir & Þóra Kristinsdóttir, Við lesum: lestrarbók. A, B

og C, Kennsluleiðbeiningar, Ríkisútgáfa námsbóka, Reykjavík, 1979

Björgvin Jósteinsson, Helga Magnúsdóttir & Þóra Kristinsdóttir, Við lesum: lestrarbók A,

Námsgagnastofnun, Reykjavík, 1991

Bono, Edward, Teach your child how to think, Penguin books, London, 1993

Bryndís Gunnarsdóttir & Þóra Kristinsdóttir, Í stafaleik, Námsgagnastofnun, Reykjavik, 1991

Bryndis Víglundsdóttir, Grýla á fæðingardeildinni, Salka, Reykjavik, 2007

Halldór Á. Elvarsson, Stafróf Dýrana, Mál og menning/Forlagið, Reykjavík, 2008

Halldór Pétursson, Íslensku dýrin, Setberg, Reykjavík, 1972

Helgi Elíasson & Ísak Jónsson, Gagn og gaman: lesbók fyrir byrjendur, Ríkisútgáfa námsbóka,

Reykjavík, 1933

Hrafnhildur Sigurðardóttir, Stafirnir: Lærum stafrófið saman, JPV útgáfa, Reykjavík, 2007

Hunt, Peter, Criticism, theory, and children´s literature, Blackwell Publishers, Oxford, UK, 1992

List of references

Books

26

Ouaknin, Marc-Alain, Mysteries of the alphabet: The origins of writing, trans. Bacon, Josephine,

Abbeville Press, New York, 1999

Paul, Lissa, “Learning to be literate”, in M. O. Grenby & Andrea Immel (eds.), The Cambridge

companion to children´s literature, Cambridge University Press, New York, 2009, pp. 127-142

Pilkington, Brian, Lubbi Lundi, trans. Halla Sverrirsdóttir, Mál og menning, Reykjavik, 2008

Ragnheiður Gestsdóttir, Stafurinn minn of stafurinn þinn, Mál og menning, Reykjavik, 2000

Steinar Berg & Pilkington, Brian, Hringaló og Grýla, Fossatún, Reykjavik, 2010

Schickedanz, Judith, Much more than the ABCs: the early stages of reading and writing,

National Assn for the Education, Washington, 1999

Silvey, Anita, Children´s books and their creators, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, New York, 1995

Withrow, Steven & Withrow, Lesley B., Illustating children´s picture books, RotoVision,

Switzerland, 2009

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ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/content/cntareas/reading/li100.htm>

27

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28

29

Bergljót Arnalds, electronic mail to Viktoriia Buzukina, 18 December 2012

Ragnheiður Gestsdóttir, interviewed by Viktoriia Buzukina, 27 November 2012

Ragnheiður Gestsdóttir, a popular Icelandic author and illustrator. Interview with her gave me a different perspective of alphabet book development in Iceland. As a writer and illustrator, who has been publishing children´s picture books in Iceland for a long time, she described the history of illustrations in Icelandic children´s books. Ragnheiður pointed out the importance of the visual part in all books for children and importance of clear and simple images in books for toddlers from zero to three years old. Moreover, she mentioned that cultural depictions are very important in first books and gave her professional opinion about how the first alphabet book should look like, what should be included in its content and illustrations.

Rannveig A. Jóhansdóttir, interviewed by Viktoriia Buzukina, 20 November 2012

Rannveig Auður Jóhansdóttir is a lecturer at the Research Centre for Children and Youth Development in Iceland. During the interview she introduced me to Icelandic traditions of learning letters of the alphabet. She gave a very deep and detailed information about when, how and where children in Iceland start to learn the alphabet. Rannveig showed me the very first Icelandic alphabet books and leaded me through the history and culture of the country. She described the results of the latest research done by the Center and provided analysis of learning and reading development of Icelandic children.

Sigþrúður Gunnarsdóttir, interviewed by Viktoriia Buzukina, 16 November 2012

Sigþrúður Gunnarsdóttir is an editor at Icelandic book publishing house, Forlagið. During the interview we were talking about Icelandic alphabet books market. She also introduced me to some of the ABC books published in Iceland. Sigþrúður provided statistics that showed domination of foreign books on the market and pointed out main problems in publishing board books for children from zero to three years old in Iceland.

Sigþrúður Gunnarsdóttir, electronic mail to Viktoriia Buzukina, 22 November 2012

Sylvía Guðmundsdóttir, interviewed by Viktoriia Buzukina, 21 November 2012

Sylvía Guðmundsdóttir is an editor at the Icelandic National Centre for Educational Materials, Námsgagnastofnun. During the interview she described main requirements for children´s learning materials such as alphabet books and first reading and writing books. Sylvía told me about typography, illustrations and the content of these books. Sylvía and I went over Icelandic ABCs, both old and new ones, analyzed and compared typefaces and the style of illustrations there.

Interviews and electronic mails

30

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31

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32